What’s next for Max Holloway and Arnold Allen after UFC Kansas City?

In the main event of UFC Kansas City, a battle of top-five featherweights went down as former champion Max Holloway took on Arnold Allen.

Holloway was coming off a decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski which was his third defeat to the Aussie for the belt. Before that, he had back-to-back wins over Yair Rodriguez and Calvin Kattar. Allen, meanwhile, was a perfect 10-0 in the UFC and on a 12-fight win streak with notable wins over Kattar and Dan Hooker.

Ultimately, it was Holloway winning a clear-cut decision at UFC Kansas City to return to the win column. Now, after UFC Kansas City, here is what I think should be next for both fighters involved in the main event.

Max Holloway

Max Holloway is in a unique spot. He’s clearly the second-best featherweight in the UFC but is 0-3 against Alexander Volkanovski so he likely won’t get a fourth crack for a while. In order for Holloway to get another title fight, he either needs Volkanovski to lose to Yair Rodriguez or the Aussie to move up to 155lbs, or perhaps, if he wins multiple fights in a row and forces the UFC to give him another chance.

With that, I expect Holloway to remain at featherweight after UFC Kansas City and headline a Fight Night card against Korean Zombie. Although it appears to be a bit of a mismatch, both men have called for it. As well, Holloway is at a point where he should get fun fights or legacy fights, and fighting an OG like Zombie makes sense.

Arnold Allen

Arnold Allen was considered a dark horse of the featherweight division but he had to get past Max Holloway at UFC Kansas City to really prove that. Yet, the Brit came up short but still put up a great fight an had moments in there against Holloway.

Although Allen lost, I don’t think his stock dropped. Instead, he still is in the title picture but will likely need to win two to get a crack at the belt. With that, I like him to face the winner of Josh Emmett vs. Ilia Topuria on June 24 in a potential number-one contender fight this fall. The winner would be right back in the title mix and it’s a scrap that can headline a Fight Night card.

What do you think should be next for Max Holloway and Arnold Allen after UFC Kansas City?